Optical modulators are key components in optical data links and are, currently, the subject of much research. Here we combine a comb laser with a series of cascaded photonic crystal modulators. A silicon nitride waveguide is used as the bus providing a near ideal means of routing light around a photonic chip as well as low insertion losses from optical fibre. This is vertically coupled to the photonic crystal cavities, the large free spectral range of which provides very high scalability along with very low (~femtojoule) switching energies. Finally, we show a route to integrating optics with electronics at the frontend. Combined with the low silicon area consumed by vertically coupled photonic crystal cavities, this is very promising for future optical interconnects.

Date Published: 27 February 2013
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8630, Optoelectronic Interconnects XIII, 86300P (27 February 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2004841

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8630:
Optoelectronic Interconnects XIII
Alexei L. Glebov; Ray T. Chen, Editor(s)